Fortnite Planning Celebrity Filled Tournament

By Kyle Sledge 04 April 2018

Not too long ago, the Twitch streamer known as Ninja set a new record for a solo stream after playing Fortnite with rappers Drake and Travis Scott, as well as Steelers wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster, showing that the game is even enjoyed by famous musicians and athletes during their downtime. Now, in a move that is capitalizing on such a concept of stars playing video games while also being done as a viable marketing tool, Epic Games has announced plans to host a forthcoming celebrity-filled tournament with 50 of “the world’s greatest athletes and entertainers.”

This much has been confirmed by a recent blog post from Epic Games, with the company having decided to host its Fortnite Celebrity Pro-Am in Los Angeles during E3 2018. As of now, the studio has yet to confirm any guests that will be appearing, as it will “soon begin building the teams.” Interestingly enough, the tournament will not only have famous faces from sports and entertainment playing the title, but also the teams will be populated with the 50 “top Fortnite Battle Royale players” from around the world.

In addition to the announcement for the first-ever Fortnite Celebrity Pro-Am, Epic Games also went on to mention that it will offer details about the first season of competitive play for the title at some point during the next few weeks. Surely, this will be a way for the studio to scout talent for its forthcoming tournament set for E3 2018, but it’s safe to presume that at least one player is already being considered for participation due to his popularity with Fortnite livestreams – that is, the aforementioned Ninja.

Taking all of this into account, it really shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that Epic Games will be promoting Fortnite in a major way at E3 2018 with such an event. After all, a similar plan was successfully utilized by EA with its celebrity-filled Battlefield 1 multiplayer reveal at E3 2016. Without a doubt, using such recognizable people from music, movies, television, and sports to promote Fortnite will be a great way to relay to the wide reach of its popularity to those who haven’t tried it yet, as the strategy is a tried and true marketing tactic that’s been relied on by advertisers for years.

Fortnite is available now in early access for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.